On Iraq

Right from the start I was against the war in Iraq. I thought it was a terrible idea, especially when we were lied to about the weapons of mass destruction, Sadam’s relations with Al Queda and the rest. Iraq should never have been invaded and doing so has been the biggest mistake on a huge list of mistakes that Bush has made, nonetheless, I must now say that it is essential that the ‘battle’ in Iraq somehow not be lost.

Notice that I do not say ‘won’. That’s because I don’t think it is possible to actually win the war. Even if somehow, wonder over wonder, a democratic, functioning society is created, Iraq will still not be won. This is because the rest of the Arab world will be innately distrustful of any western backed regime change. The Iraqi government will be considered a stooge of the west and will not be respected, even if they are successful. The Arab world will, in fact, possibly feel even more humiliated because it will seem like the only way that a Middle Eastern country can be made democratic is through outside intervention.

To lose the war, however, would be much, much worse. It would be a rallying cry for the forces of extremist Islam and the extremists now fighting in Iraq would flow across the world, battle hardened and honed into deadly killing machines, making all our lives miserable. They would also, in all likelihood, help to undermine those few moderate Islamic states that do actually exist. Those few states - like Turkey, Dubai and Malaysia - which we should be looking to as examples of modern Islam and helping in every way possible (instead of spurning, like the EU is currently doing with Turkey).

If I had my way I would have the UN security council pass a new resolution, condemning the start of the Iraqi conflict but accepting that it must now be won, and have them change the entire nature of the conflict into a legitimate international attempt to bring peace and stability to the country.

With the emphasis taken away from the American occupation and instead focused on an international peace keeping mission, those groups now stuck between a rock and a hard place (i.e. the sectarian death squads and the occupying Americans) would have somewhere to turn. These groups, enlisted on the side of the allies, could then help stabilise and reform the country.

Of course, that will never happen. No country has the stomach, or the actual political capital to make something like this possible. What ever you say about the Americans (and I say a lot), the Europeans with their constant internal and external squabbles, would be fully incapable of accomplishing something like this, to forget about Russia and China (who seem quite content to let the Islamists continue to bloody the west’s nose).

So I guess the Americans must go at it alone. Well, I guess it’s what they deserve. I just hope that they remember that old adage, ‘finish what you start’.